One of the hallmarks of Christianity is the fact that our faith always calls for a sense of balance. Anything that is excessive in our practice of faith leads to abuse and
disorder. For example, to give greater importance to external religious pieties over
loving and caring for one's family and neighbors results in religious fanaticism. But if one neglects his/her prayer life and only sees helping the poor and promoting justice as the only important elements of faith, that person is wrongly reducing the faith to purely social convention. In as much as helping the poor and fighting for justice are very integral parts of our faith, Christian life cannot be reduced solely to responding to social needs and concerns—that would not make us different from hundreds of social organizations. Christian life aims for a strong balance between having a solid relationship with God through prayer and also loving others, which includes our commitment to justice. This call for balance is what is behind the words that Jesus said to his disciples, "offer no resistance to one who is evil." It doesn’t mean that we just sit and not do anything when others abuse or take advantage of us but, rather, not to offer vengeance or revenge when others have wronged us. Part of our Christian vocation to love is to make sure that those who have committed mistakes must have the courage to own them and take the consequences of our/their actions responsibly. Loving doesn’t mean staying nice and happy in the midst of injustice and abuse but, rather, confronting them with firmness, gentleness, objectivity and compassion. That is what we call tough love.
Looking at our own lives right now, what are those important relationships that we need to respond with tough love but we are afraid to do so because of fear of rejection?
Last weekend we hosted the “Mercy and Mary Retreat” facilitated by Fr. Michael Gaitley and the Marian Missionaries. It was a huge success on many levels, especially with the spiritual reinvigoration that it intended to bring. A million thanks to our volunteers and staff who labored so much to put this event together! I know that doing it on a weekend caused some inconvenience to our parking—we appreciated your patience and
understanding. I want to share with you an excerpt from an email that I received this week from a lady from another parish who attended the retreat:
“I cannot begin to thank you and all of St. Cecilia’s Parish enough for hosting the recent ‘Mercy and Mary Retreat’ with Fr. Michael Gaitley (Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception) over the weekend of February 10-12. I was lucky enough to attend this event with good friends (and about 250 others!) and can only imagine all the coordination and work that must have been involved over the past year to prepare for an event like this. Please believe me when I say it was a once in a lifetime event and successful in every way. Not only was this retreat exceptional and life changing in content and faith building (Fr. Michael Gaitley was incredible and certainly lived up to and beyond his billing!), but I don’t see how this event could have been coordinated more beautifully or perfectly. Thank you, St. Cecilia Parish!!!
The hospitality beginning with your welcome on Friday evening and extending throughout the weekend by St. Cecilia parishioners and volunteers was unbelievable and such a positive reflection on your parish. Clearly your facilities were perfect and accommodating. But the staff, whether volunteer or other, were competent and welcoming on every front to all retreat attendees, including many who had never before been to your parish. I can only imagine that there was some disruption (parking, etc) for other parishioners due to hosting this large event. We extend our thanks to them as well. They were in our prayers. I know how frustrating that can be to find parking difficult when attending your regular Sunday Mass, but their temporary inconvenience is also very much appreciated for this positive event.
Thank you again and again, St. Cecilia Parish, for hosting this event. Our prayers are with you as you recover from all your hard work. Please know that you did something amazing and to the glory of God by securing this retreat and Fr. Michael Gaitley for the first time in the Northwest. Thank you so much!”
May the gracious Lord who has begun the good work in us bring it to completion.
– Fr. Cary